The Second-Last Airbender
by WritingEqualsEscape
Summary: It's harder than that to take out an entire race, Sozin.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

**Discovered**

"Sokka, where's that river you were talking about?" Katara questioned as the gang continued to travel deeper into the forest. "I feel like I haven't seen water in years."

"My map says that it should be right here..." Sokka responded, his eyebrows brought closer to his eyes when Aang took a peek at the map.

"Ummm... did words change in the last hundred years, or is that map upside down?" He questioned as Sokka immediately blushed and flipped the map over.

"Wow, great going, genius" Toph stated and punched Sokka in the arm, making him stumble in his spot. "First we barely make it out of the desert, and now we're lost in a jungle."

"Can't you see with your feet or something?" Sokka questioned as Toph simply shrugged.

"Yeah, but I think they might be a little burned from all that sand." Toph immediately pushed her feet deeper into the ground. "I just need a good old coating of dirt and then I'll be fine."

Katara nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure we'll all be fine." She bit her lip and silently wished that the fighting would just stop. After all, things were bad enough with Appa gone, and the last thing they all needed was a brawl between an earthbender and a boomerang. They had just barely gotten out of the desert, with the help of the sand benders of course, and now they still had tons of ground to cover if they even wanted to hope to get to Ba Sing Se.

"Maybe we should just take a break here." Katara offered and let out a sigh. "After all, at least it's shady, and at this point, I'll take anything besides the sun."

"Bad idea." Toph replied and quickly placed a hand against the ground. "I hear traffic. Lots of it."

"Are they the sandbenders again?" Aang questioned and gripped his staff a little harder. "Ready for round two?"

"No," Toph replied and narrowed her eyes. "They sound like... like footsteps." She then sniffed the air and widened her eyes. "Does anyone else smell something burning?"

Everyone quickly sniffed the air, with Momo being the first to confirm her suspicions by running into Aang's shirt, his tiny paws covering his nose.

"Firebenders." Sokka whispered before he took out his boomerang, Katara ready to pull out her water before realizing that she was completely out.

"You guys..." She whispered as Aang pulled out his staff, his teeth grinding together.

"Let them come." He hissed when Toph squinted her eyes once again.

"I think... I think they're running away..." She whispered softly when a sudden scream tore into the air.

"Get AWAY!"

The voice was loud and distinctly feminine, it's high pitch ringing into the ears of the Gang as they all turned to the direction of the scream, at first thinking that it was only their imagination when it appeared again.

"I said, GET AWAY!"

The girl's voice was more fierce than what they had heard before, but also more scared. Without another word, Aang opened his staff.

"This looks like a job for the Avatar." He whispered softly and took off. _At least I can save someone... _

"AANG, NO!" Katara screamed, but her cry only landed on deaf ears before her voice turned into a whisper. "We need to stay together..."

"Don't worry," Toph replied and immediately raised the ground. "Twinkle Toes can't get too far."

Then, without warning, she took off with the two teenagers from the Southern Water Tribe as they all yelled in fear. The ground moved harshly and quickly as everyone, but Toph, hung on for dear life.

"Babies." Toph mumbled underneath her breath as she continued to push the ground towards where the sound seemed to be.

It didn't take very long to finally find the source of the sound, especially with the amount of firebenders there were. Toph quickly took a few out as Sokka did his best to throw his boomerang at some.

"Take that!" He shouted, missing completely and hitting a tree instead. "Noooo, boomerang."

"Oh, for Pete's sake," Katara whispered and noticed a small puddle of water of water on the ground before water bending it so that it grabbed the boomerang before giving it to Sokka.

"Boomerang! You really do come back!"

"Thanks, Katara, you're so helpful, Katara," Katara mumbled underneath her breath as Sokka started kissing his boomerang. She quickly managed to help take down some firebenders, but there almost seemed like there was an unlimited amount of them in the area.

Aang, who was above them, quickly managed to take some of them out before falling onto the ground next to Toph.

"About time you join us." Toph mumbled before she stopped moving the ground from under them, causing Katara and Sokka to fall five feet forward at the sudden jolt.

"Wow, a bit of a warning next time?" Katara questioned before the same ear piercing voice appeared.

"I said STAY BACK!" The voice yelled as the group quickly scrambled to save the girl. They all ended up running to a small clearing in the forest to an unforgetable sight.

A girl, barely sixteen it seemed, was standing against a wall of grey rocks and was surrounded by at least a dozen Fire Nation soldiers. She looked fierce, with wild dark brown hair and luminous grey-green eyes. Her hands were held out in fists, and her clothes were all torn with slight green and grey hues, matching her eyes and claiming her as an Earth Kingdom citizen. There were barely healed burn marks licking her forearms and ankles... and those were the only ones that were visible.

"Don't worry-" Aang began, ready to fight against the small group of Fire Nation soldiers when a sudden burst of wind hit them all, a burst of wind so harsh that it tore everyone, even Toph, off their feet and into the bushes. Most of the Fire Nation soldiers got rammed against trees, obviously knocked out, as Aang lifted his head off the ground, his eyes wide as he looked at the lanky girl who still stood strong in her spot.

"You're..." He whispered softly as the girl took one glance at him before punching the air, sending a wave of wind against Aang and forcing him to tumble backwards.

"... an airbender..."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

**Air and Earth**

"Airbender."

The word barely left Aang's lips when the girl's eyes widened before she began to run away, her legs flying as she airbended herself to the top of the wall of rocks before breaking out into a sprint. At the sight, Aang quickly ran after her, his steps frantic and full of pure and utter joy.

"Wait!" Aang shouted as he chased after the girl. She was running quickly, even for an airbender, but Aang had adrenaline on his side. "I'M JUST LIKE YOU!"

"Get away from me!" The girl screamed and sent a harsh blast of air at Aang, who easily avoided it. She obviously wasn't trained, or even taught, how to airbend, everything obviously based off of instinct judging by how clumsily she was doing it. But that didn't take away from the fact that her airbending was powerful, so powerful that the one simple blast took down a few trees.

"PLEASE!" Aang shouted and quickly sent a blast of air at her, careful not to hurt her as she fell to the ground, her hands pressing against the ground before she quickly got up and sent another blast of air at Aang, who quickly brought a block of earth in front of him to protect himself.

"JUST GET AWAY!" The girl shouted at the top of her lungs as she sent an almost impossibly larger hit of air at Aang, forcing his wall to collaspe and for Aang to get sent backwards into a tree.

"No..." Aang whispered and looked up at the girl once again. She looked scared, her eyes always flickering from side to side, just waiting for a sneak attack almost. "See..." He made a ball of condensed air in his hand and gave her an awkward smile. "I'm... just like you..."

When the girl spotted the boy airbending, a look of surprise wiped over her face. Her eyes widened and for a moment, she seemed to have let her guard down, her deep brown hair finally falling against her back as Aang realized that she used to be manipulating the air around her so that it blew in all directions.

"You're..." She whispered and became almost hesitiant to say the next word, as if by uttering it, it would make it so that it wasn't true. As if it pained her to even think about it.

"Yeah..." Aang whispered and got up before rubbing the back of his head that hit the tree. "The Avatar, I know."

"AANG!" A sudden voice poured into the air as the girl immediately squeezed her once relaxed hands when the Gang popped up once more, Katara leading the group. At the sight of others, the air surrounding the girl suddenly became harsh, wind moving in all directions as Aang widened his eyes and grabbed at her wrist.

"No, they're friends." Aang whispered softly as the girl simply stared back at the boy before the air around them calmed down, the girl's wild hair landing on her back once more.

"You're safe!" Katara shouted and hugged the young bald boy. "One moment you were there, and the next you were just gone..." Her words trailed off when she saw the girl again, who simply stared at their interaction, her eyes still darting from side to side in fear, and her fists still clenched.

"So you're an airbender too?" Sokka questioned, getting right to the point before widening his arms. "Is everyone an airbender now a days?..."

The girl's eyes flickered from Sokka to Aang to Katara, who punched Sokka in the arm at his comment. "Rude much?" She questioned as Toph stepped forward.

"Why don't we start with introductions first?" She questioned and stuck out a hand. "My name is Toph, you've already met Aang, she's Katara, and he's Sokka." She crossed her arms, obviously waiting for the girl to introduce herself. However, she simply stood in her spot, her legs feeling wobbly when Katara spoke up, her voice soft.

"What's your name?"

The girl's response was quiet, barely audible.

"What did you say?" Katara questioned when the girl took in a deep breath.

"Cali. My name is Cali."

* * *

The gang made camp by the river that they were ever so desperately looking for, everyone briefly looking at the girl who stayed quiet throughout the entire trip, despite Aang's consistent pestering. She seemed to not have anything with her besides the clothes on her back and the power to airbend in her veins, which was quite bad for the group, especially when it came to a sleeping situation. With Appa gone, her only other option was to sleep on the ground, which she seemed to be way too familiar with.

The next morning during breakfast, the gang couldn't take the mystery of the girl any longer, and Aang was the first to begin his onslaughter of questions. Surely after a good night's of rest, she was willing to talk, right?

"Are there others?" Aang asked as he drank some porridge. "I mean, like airbenders?" Somewhere in his heart, he was hoping for the girl to say that there was an entire civilization of airbenders out there. That they were hidden away from the Fire Nation eye and that they were all safe and happy and free. But the girl's response was the exact opposite of hopeful.

"No." She whispered softly, her eyes flickering up to Aang's. "Until yesterday, I thought I was the last airbender in the world."

The conversation suddenly turned quiet as everyone ate their porridge in depressing silence when, to everyone's surprise, Cali spoke freely.

"Thank you for your genorsity of letting me share your food and home." Her voice was a harsh whisper, her green-grey eyes not making contact with anyone else. "But I'm afraid that I need to get going."

"WHAT?" Aang questioned and airbended himself to his feet. "But we just met! And... And I feel like we need to stick together..."

"I'm sorry, but I have a goal." She let out a soft exhale. "I don't know about you guys, but it seems like you just want to keep travelling and frankly... I'm done with that... All I want is a stable life in a stable home in a stable world in Ba Sing Se."

"But that's perfect!" Katara stated, a smile creasing her face. "We're actually heading there now!"

The girl's eyes flicker over to Katara's pure blue ones, who continued on. "You can travel with us there! We're going there in hopes to find Appa, Aang's bison." At the mention of his beloved pet's name, Aang flinched and dug his head deeper into his knees, obviously wanting to scream. "Once we're all there together, then we can split ways if you still want to."

"Bison... you mean, like a sky bison?" Cali questioned. "I thought those were extinct..."

"Almost extinct." Sokka pointed out. "Just like airbenders!" Katara immediately slapped Sokka on the arm once again as Cali took in a deep breath and nodded her head.

"Yeah... yeah that seems like a good idea." Then, to everyone's surprise, a small smile creased Cali's lips.

It was a start.


End file.
